Nigeria: President Tinubu orders rescue as mass kidnapping of 600 exposes security failings

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has ordered the military and other security agencies to launch an immediate rescue operation after gunmen abducted scores of people in an attack on a mosque in north-central Niger State last week.

An armed group posted a video on Facebook and WhatsApp showing what residents said were around 600 women, children and elderly people taken during the raid, though Reuters could not independently verify the figure, and if confirmed it would rank among Nigeria’s largest and most audacious mass kidnappings in recent years.

An official from Borgu district, where the attack took place, said 30 people were killed and buried on Sunday, with villagers from the communities of Dakera, Gidan-Zana and Sabon Gida affected; the traditional head of Dakera said at least 2,000 people fled into neighbouring Benin Republic in the aftermath.

In its first public comments on the attack, the presidency condemned it as cowardly and vowed that those responsible would face justice.

Tinubu directed the Armed Forces, the Nigeria Police Force, the Department of State Services, and all relevant security and intelligence agencies to launch a coordinated rescue operation immediately, saying the entire nation shared the anguish of affected families and that the government would not rest until victims were brought back safely.

He also directed security chiefs to give him regular updates on efforts to rescue the abductees and account for all those taken, declaring that terror would not cow Nigeria.

The mass abduction has renewed scrutiny of Nigeria’s ability to secure its rural north, where the incident highlights the state’s inability to protect swathes of the country where an array of armed groups operate, with any rescue effort complicated by the gunmen’s familiarity with remote border terrain and their ability to hide in dense bush.

Mass abductions for ransom have become common across parts of northwestern and north-central Nigeria, where heavily armed criminal gangs frequently raid villages, schools and highways, holding captives for weeks or months while demanding large ransoms, and increasingly expanding their operations beyond their traditional strongholds.

Authorities in Niger State said they were still working to verify the exact number of those missing.